A Dance of Death
by ohgeezitsv
Summary: Josephine Kaylock, after making a huge mistake that has caused her world nothing but pain and death, has been forced to become a temporary Reaper. She has been ordered to collect both souls and close the Gates of Hell, which she accidently opened, as punishment. However, she must travel with a quirky group with a handsome swordsman that will no doubt make her job very difficult
1. The Shinigami High Council

White, white, white! White surrounded her everywhere; above her, beside her, in front of her. There was literally nothing; no objects or people, just…_white_. Was she in heaven? No, this place was too bland to be heaven. So where was she? Just a second ago she was in the park fighting those nasty—

"Name: Josephine Eden Kaylock."

The woman snapped around, eyes searching rapidly. She was a tall woman with shoulder blade length curly, raven black hair, pale skin, and milky pink eyes. She was garbed in a black, skin tight, leather body-suit with combat boots that matched in color. On her thigh was a gun holster that housed a very basic pistol.

"Hello? Who's there?" The woman called out, voice cracking slightly. She cringed at that; god damn, she was scared, but she didn't want whoever that person was to know. Her eyes widened considerably as shapes started to form in the area of white. The area of white under her feet became a floor of black and white tiled marble and the rest of the area formed to be some sort of court. Wait,court? She had to be dreaming; that was the only logical thing she could come up with. For one, no one just magically appears in a court. And two, courts did not exist anymore, not with all the chaos that was going on. Her thoughts were interrupted when figures of people slowly went from a ghostly form to being completely tangible.

There were fifteen men in the room altogether, with her standing in the middle. Their expressions ranged from either blank, to annoyed or angry; most of them were blank though, completely void of emotion. Behind a raised desk was a man with slicked back, gray hair, and piercing green eyes. He was young looking, but had a few wrinkles on his face, signaling that he must've been somewhere in the middle-aged section of the age scale. This man was obviously the judge.

"Age: 25.  
Birthdate: December 3rd, 1987"

The man that stood directly in front of the judge's bench was a tall man with slicked back black hair, purple eyes that hid behind pair of thick, black, square-framed glasses. His voice was very professional and he certainly looked it too as he was dressed in a black suit, gloves, and dress shoes that were shined to the point where reflections could be seen. Besides the judge and him, the others were dressed in different styles, save one or two men.

The man with the purple eyes continued to read out of a medium-sized, leather covered, hard back book.  
"Occupation: In the past, a painter. Currently, a strategist and survivalist.  
Family: Deceased."

With a quiet 'thump!' he slammed the book shut with his thumb and middle fingers, eyes raising to stare directly at her; she did her best to suppress her shivers. The man was so expressionless, but his eyes, like everyone else, pierced her to her very soul. She pushed that thought away; their eyes weren't important right this second!

"How do you know all of this?! Who are you people?!" The woman, or Josephine to be more specific, stomped her slightly dirtied boot against the floor, voice holding a very demanding and confident tone, even if she was anything but. This was fucking creepy…

"Be silent, Miss Kaylock!" The judge ordered, his voice not even rising any higher than an indoor voice, but it was firm enough to make her freeze in her spot. He rested his elbows on top of the desk in front of him and laced his fingers together, sending a death glare in her direction. If looks could kill, she'd be a bloody puddle on the ground by now. "Miss Kaylock, do you know why you're here?"

Josephine blinked. "Well no, to be honest, I do not. Where is _'here'_?"

"You, Miss, are in the high counsel of the Shinigami. You're one of the _very few_ who have ever even seen this place." The man with the purple eyes spoke as he gestured around the room with a swift movement of his hand.

"Shinigami?" She repeated, tilting her head slightly to one side. "As in _'Death Gods'_?" The man in front of her nodded. She stared at him for a long time before running a hand through her hair, laughing nervously. "I'm dreaming! I have to be."

The purple-eyed man exchanged a quick glance behind him to the judge, who merely nodded in an approval. The purple-eyed man nodded back and turned to face Josephine, who held her hand in her hair and was clearly thinking over about something. In a flash, he was in front of her, very close to her face. She barely registered how close he was until he slammed his fist into her stomach, making her sputter and cough and hunch forward, holding her stomach.

"Did that hurt?"

"Y-Yes! Very m-much so!" Josephine wheezed and glared up at the man who just punched her. That was a damn powerful punch! If he hit any harder, she was sure that she'd have some internal bleeding or something.

The man smiled just barely; just a small curvature of the lips. He turned away from her and headed back to where he was originally standing. "Then this is no dream, is it?"

"Miss Kaylock, you know what Shinigamis do, correct?" The judge asked, a little more patiently than she was expecting. Josephine nodded her head and raised herself to a full stand when she stopped wheezing. "You make sure people die their appointed times and judge their souls. Right?" She was unsure. Sometimes stories didn't do justice to their unnatural subjects. The judge nodded his head, eyes narrowing slightly. "Precisely. And because of your mistake, you've made our jobs way more difficult than they need to be."

Josephine's eyes widened and she took a half step back. She knew what he was referring to. "I-I…I didn't mean to do it! W-What are you guys going to do to me? Am I being sentenced to death earlier than planned?" That wouldn't surprise her; she probably deserved it.

"No. It took much discussion and planning, but the council has finally found a punishment suitable for you." The judge snapped his fingers toward a man with long, navy blue hair and yellow eyes who was dressed in a way similar to a samurai. The man handed over a paper to the judge before returning to his original spot. Josephine watched nervously as the judge read over the paper, and when he was done he set it down. "You opened up the seven gates and therefore unleashed chaos into the world. Surprisingly none of the other worlds were affected by it."

"Other worlds?"

The judge ignored Josephine. "You opened them, so you'll be closing them as well. Closing the gates is not an easy thing, but you want to save your people, yes?"

Josephine nodded furiously, eyes narrowing in determination. "More than anything! I'll do anything to save them from the mistakes I have made!"

"Good, because here is what is going to happen, so listen carefully." He jabbed a finger in her direction, making her flinch slightly. "We're going to send you to a being called the Dimensional Witch. She can grant you a wish, but instead of wishing to save your people, you're going to wish to travel the worlds and search for the gates. When you find a gate, figure out how to close it. If you die, well, then that is your own fault for not being careful. We're changing your appointed death and leaving it blank just for the possibility that you can die anytime on this job and we won't have any idea when you will if you do."

"B-But how am I going to close such a thing? I'm just a hum—"

"I was getting there, Miss Kaylock." The judge held up a hand to silence her. After a minute, when she didn't say anything else, he continued as he lowered his hand, "You're right; humans are weak and powerless; especially when their facing such powerful creations. This is why we decided to grant you the abilities of a Shinigami."

"W-What?!" Josephine stuttered, eyes nearly popping out of her head. She had never heard of such a thing!

"Normally we would never do such a thing, but since this is punishment, we decided to go with such measures." With the flick of his wrist, a large, shining, silver scythe that was decorated in intricate designs of ruby red appeared in his hand, making Josephine's eyes widen with interest and fear at the same time. "You'll be granted with Shinigami powers which include endured strength, stamina, and power, animal communication, invisibility, usage of a Death Scythe, and soul collecting. Along with closing the gates, you'll be collecting several souls from a list that we give you. You must collect the soul right after their death. So word of advice: be there when that person passes on." He did not pause, speaking over Josephine when she tried. "Do not fail to collect these souls, or else we shall add onto your punishment. When you reach a new world, Vidic here," He gestured to the purple-eyed man. "will hand you a collection of files of your targets. Study them so you don't run the risk of failing to collect a soul."

Josephine was so goddamn lost. Well, not lost, but stressed and nervous. She was going to practically become a Shinigami and they were just going to toss her to the side to close these gates and collect souls?! "Excuse me, sir, but can I please ask you a few things?" The judge nodded, signaling for her to go on. "Okay, first off, why are you making me do this when you could just…kill me?"

"Do you want to die?" When she shook her head, the judge barely smiled. "I thought so. Besides, we reviewed your record and we know you did not summon those vile creatures on purpose. We can tell you want to make up for your mistakes, so we decided to just punish you with responsibility."

"Okaaaaaaay, but how am I going to find these gates? How do I travel from world to world?"

"The Dimensional Witch. She'll grant you the ability to do so. We'd give you such an ability, but Shinigamis can only travel from worlds to the Shinigami one, not world to world. So we're merely going to send you to her."

"Well, how does one '_collect souls'_?"

"Merely touch your target with your scythe and send it to us."

"And how do I send it to you?"

"Simply think it."

"Am I allowed to kill things with my scythe?"

"Normally, no. But we'll make an exception for you, given the circumstance."

"What do these gates look like?"

"You'll know it when you see them, or feel them for that matter."

"Oh….." It was silent for a long moment before Josephine let out a loud, frustrated growl and covered her eyes with the base of her palms and dug her hands into her hair. The others raised an eyebrow at her, "Something wrong, Miss Kaylock?"

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" She moved her hands away from her face and held them out far at her sides. "One minute I'm killing demons in Central Park, next I'm in some Death God counsel room, being told that I have to go world to world, with granted Death God powers, and close gates that I accidently opened as punishment! And collect souls why I am at it!"

"Well," The judge folded his hands across his lap and crossed one of his legs, raising his eyebrow again. "you do want to save your world, do you not?"

"Yes, I do! But…_this_ is just so much to take in all at once."

The judge let out a chuckle, the first sign of emotion, besides that barely visible smile, that she had seen in him yet. He stood up and walked out from around the judge's bench. "I have no doubt. It's not every day a human is told that he or she is being granted with Shinigami powers and given Shinigami assignments. Then again, no human is ever told or given such things." He walked up to her, and despite her height, he towered over her by a few inches. "Close your eyes."

Josephine did not hesitate. She didn't want to piss off the Death Gods anymore than she already had. She suddenly felt two fingers being pressed against her, and for a while, nothing happened. But after a little more waiting, she felt an almost electrical surge go through her. Her body twitched a bit, but he kept his fingers pressed against her forehead, despite the movement. When the surge was gone, he removed his fingers, commanding her to open her eyes once again; she complied. "How do you feel?"

"I-I feel…_stronger_." She admitted as she stared down at her leather clad hands, gloves that matched her suit.

"Good. That means you successfully received the powers I promised. Now," He flicked the wrist of his hand that was free of holding nothing, and another scythe appeared in his hand. Josephine couldn't help but stare at it in awe. It was a large scythe that's handle looked like a human spine that was curved twice. On the top of the handle was a human skull with its mouth wide open, revealing the long, curved blade, which was black in color. "Take this."

Josephine hesitantly reached out and took the thing, marveling at how light it felt in her grasp. When she ran a hand down the handle, she couldn't help but grin; the spine felt weird, but amazing at the same time. "Wow…" she breathed quietly. She could feel amazing power radiating off of the thing.

"I'm glad that you like it. I figured it was in your specific tastes. This is what you'll be using from now on to both shut the gates and collect souls. Now, we've wasted enough time discussing this. It's time we send you to the Dimensional Witch for she is about to receive her customers soon."

Before Josephine could say another word, the judge in front of her gripped the large scythe in his hands and swung it at the air, but instead of nothing happening, a portal opened up. He sighed and grabbed her arm, nudging her toward the portal. "I hate using this ability; it takes so much energy out of me even if it is rare that I use it. Now, I'll send Vidic here to check up on you and hand you your list of souls for each world, so expect him often. Good luck, Miss Kaylock."

Without another word, the judge pushed her into the portal, sending her falling to Death Gods know where!

* * *

**I've also been watching Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicals lately and wanted to do a Kurogane fanfic.**

**What's up with me and the stoic swordsmen? Hm. Idk! I guess they're just sexy. **

**C:**

**OMFG. It took me forever to think up a plot that wasn't too typical. So…I hope I did well.**

**:I**

**Here's the thing, about my Shinigami's.**

**They are somewhat based off of Kuroshitsuji's Shinigamis but there are differences between them, which some are more obvious than others. You'll find all of them out sooner or later. **

**So in addition to my One Piece story, I'll be working on this one.**

**:D**

**Yay for stories about sexy swordsmen!**

**Anyhow, review?**

**O:**

**~V**


	2. Prices To Pay

Josephine felt like she was falling forever through the darkness. She had almost come to the conclusion that the Death God judge had killed her, that was, until she looked at the scythe in her hands.

'_So, I guess you could say I'm a Shinigami myself; temporarily at least. Still, the idea of reaping people's souls…it does sound kind of weird and creepy. I wonder how long it will take me to find these gates so that I may go home to a peaceful one.'_

She blinked as she saw a puddle that was rising up quickly to meet her. There was image that was in it that she couldn't quite make out with all the ripples, but it looked almost like a group of people standing together. She clenched her eyes shut as she headed into the puddle feet first.

The water felt odd, almost like a gelatin that wrapped itself around her body. She could breathe just fine in it, as it turned out. Man, did this feel _weird_. She felt herself being lowered and her feet touch something solid, then the gelatinous substance burst, falling from her body in the form of water and spreading across grassy ground.

Josephine looked around curiously as she slowly pried her eyes open. In front of her was a woman clad in a long black dress with sleeves that were almost as long as her arms. Her eyes were a deep crimson color and her skin was as pale as the moon, even paler than Josephine's, and she was quite pale. Her hair was pinned up in a style that she could only categorize as 'Japanese.'

Behind her was a tall boy in a black school uniform with sky blue eyes and glasses, and two girls; one with short pink hair, and one with light blue hair in long pigtails. Their eyes matched the color of their hair.

"So that last one has arrived. Welcome." The woman in front of her smiled in her direction.

Josephine blinked her milky pink eyes slowly and several times in a row. She was expecting her? How odd. She wondered if the Shinigamis told her of her arrival or something. However, that wasn't what she was focused on. What she was focused on was the thing she actually said. _'Last one?'_ Josephine looked over to her right and blinked once again, surprised.

There were four people besides her. The one right next to her was a tall man, who towered over her just like the Death God. On his head was a red platted thing of head armor with the design of a crescent moon on it that covered the front of his head; underneath was complicatedly spiked up, black hair. His skin was a natural, deep tan that really seemed to bring out his crimson red eyes. Judging by his clothing, which was all black with a little bit of red here and there, plus a cape, he was a warrior of some kind. A samurai, most likely. She only assumed that because of the sheathed katana in his hand. He, like the others, looked at her, but his expression more along the lines screamed: _What the fuck?_

Next to him was a young boy with brown face-lengthed hair that is slightly spike but arranged in a very simple manner. Even if he wasn't moving around, Josephine could tell that he had a very lithesome body. In contrast to his brown hair, which matched his eyes from what she could see, he had an olive-brown complexion. He was dressed in white pants, what appeared to be a black muscle shirt, and a green cape thrown over it all, with goggles dangling around his neck. His expression was more shocked than anything.

In the boy's arms was a young girl. Josephine couldn't see her eyes, as she was unconscious, but she did have strawberry blond hair and a pinkish tanned complexion. She was slim built, but an average size for someone her age. Her clothes were more…fancy, than the rest of them. No doubt she was important from wherever she came from.

The last person was a tall man, almost the same height as the man clad in all black, but just a foot shorter. He was pale like herself, but with light blue eyes and blond hair. He was dressed in a long, furry blue and white coat. She couldn't see what else he was wearing, but she did see that he was holding some sort of staff with a large blue crystal coming out the middle of it. He just smiled her way, making Josephine narrow her eyes a little. A smile that told _lies_…

Why the hell were they all staring at her like that? What it her clothing? She took a second to look down at herself. Well, it could be that…But they were all dressed differently. Was it her ha— Ohhhhh, it was the Death Scythe that was in her hands, probably. Yeah, she'd be freaked out if she were in their position as well. Still, she didn't like the fact these people were gawking at her like that. She turned away from them to look toward the woman in front of them and they soon followed with the action.

"Please save Sakura!" Josephine jumped a little at the young boy's voice; he sounded so desperate. But from what Josephine could see, the girl was not injured and bleeding. Maybe she had some sort of ailment? One could only assume. The boy's grip on the girl's body tightened a little bit when the woman did not answer him. "Help me save Sakura, please!"

"That girl…" The woman's mouth twitched up just the slightest, forming a barely visible smile. "Her name is Sakura?"

"Yes." The boy replied with a nod. For a boy so young, he seemed pretty damn smart and kind. But Josephine knew nothing about him so she could only assume from the way he carried himself and spoke.

"And you are?" The woman really gave Josephine a strange vibe. She could sense great power radiating off of her, but did not really sense any threat. It must be a side effect to becoming a Shinigami: being able to sense auras and strong power. Speaking of which, the girl in the boy's arms had a strong aura radiating off of her as well, as did the blond. The samurai next to her did too, but his was more of a physical, grim determination kind of strength and not a magical one like the rest. And the boy's was one of compassion and strength, with a few things that Josephine could not place…

"My name is Syaoran." He blinked in surprise when the woman suddenly leaned forward, placing her hand on Sakura's head. His surprise, and everyone else's, grew considerably when her hand started to glow. The woman closed her eyes, "This girl…has lost something very precious. And that something has been scattered into different worlds. If things are left as they are right now, she…" Her eyes opened and narrowed in a serious manner as she met Syaoran's gaze head on. "will die." He gasped, eyes widening. He stared at the woman in complete shock and disbelief.

"And who are you?" The dark man next to Josephine asked, propping his sword against his shoulder. A little rude, are we?

The woman did not even look up from Sakura as she replied with, "How about telling me who _you_ are first?"

The man looked away and shrugged his shoulders. "I'm Kurogane." He said it almost arrogantly, but not quite. His eyes moved around the area where they were at. "Seriously, where the hell are we?"

"This is Japan." Still, the woman did not look up from Sakura.

Kurogane let out a confused hum and looked at the woman like she was nuts. "What? The place where I come from is called Japan, too."

"This is not the same Japan."

"You're not making any sense!" Kurogane grounded through clenched teeth. Okay, so maybe he was a little more than just rude…

The woman ignored him and finally looked up from Sakura, only to look at the blond that was standing next to her and Syaoran. "What's your name?"

The blond bowed his head in a manner of respect, and when he raised it, he still had that same smile from before. And while that smile was kind, it was a façade. "I am the Wizard of the Ceres Kingdom. Fai D. Florite.

The woman looked at Josephine finally, smiling just the slightest. "And you?" Maybe it was Josephine's imagination, but she swore she saw a sparkle behind those eyes, like she knew something that Josephine did not. To be polite, she bowed her head respectfully for a full three seconds, like Fai did, before lifting it back up, a soft smile gracing her already soft features. "My name is Josephine Kaylock."

The woman nodded and stood up to a full stand, turning slightly to look back at the boy in the dark school uniform. "Watanuki," The boy's eyes lit up when she addressed him. He probably wasn't expecting her to speak to him. "go to the storage room and fetch me those things." The boy nodded with a quiet, _'yes'_, and went inside with the two girls grabbing his hands.

Josephine watched him go with a thoughtful look. His aura was so strange to her; it was mixed with destruction, curiosity, and desperation. She wondered what the whole destruction feel was all about.

"What must I do to save Sakura? Please tell me!" Syaoran asked, his voice twice as desperate as it had been before. Geesh, this kid must really care for her. It was sweet, and almost made Josephine a little jealous. She had no one to care for her like that. Then again, with the state her world was in, she _didn't_ really need _distractions_ like that.

"In order to save her life, you must travel to the various worlds where her memories have scattered, and retrieve them." The woman said, giving a side-glance toward Syaoran.

"Scattered…pieces of her memory?" He repeated slowly, eyes cascading down to Sakura while his eyebrows squished together in confusion. After a few seconds, his eyes lit up and he looked up to the woman. "Those feathers…"

Memories in the form of feathers? This day just kept getting stranger and stranger for Josephine. Little did she know…it was going to get a whole lot _stranger. _

"Yes, that's right. If you can gather all the feathers, you will be able to save her life. So, will that be your wish?"

Syaoran nodded his head, nothing but grim determination in his brown eyes. "Yes."

"Since you three came here," She looked back and forth between Kurogane, Fai, and Josephine. "then that means you also have a wish."

"A wish? Hmph, that's easy. Send me back from the place I just came from, right now." Well, why would he wish that? If he went through the trouble of getting here, then shouldn't he be wishing for something…less _stupid_? Or maybe he was in a predicament like Josephine where he didn't ask to come.

"And I would prefer to never return to the place I was just at." Fai spoke politely and exchanged a glance with the stoic samurai, smiling while Kurogane merely just raised an eyebrow.

Everyone's eyes turned to Josephine, making her feel a little nervous. However, she didn't feel as nervous as she had been in the High Council courtroom of the Shinigami with all 15 pairs of soul-piercing eyes on her. Speaking of them, she thought about why she was currently here. This made her half tempted to just wish for the Gates of Hell to be closed so she could just go home, but then that would just upset the Shinigamis and that means she couldn't go home at all as she would have used her wish on that. Obviously the Shinigami's wanted her to work; it was punishment after all. "I..." She mentally sighed. Guess she'd have to do this job properly after all. "I am searching for some objects that are scattered across the other worlds." Out of the corner of her eye, she could Syaoran tense. Poor kid thought she was talking about Sakura's feathers. Just to show she meant no harm she looked over at him and smiled reassuringly and it worked too as his tension deflated in a heartbeat. He could tell it was a real smile.

Kurogane narrowed his eyes just the slightest. Could she be anymore vague than that? What was up with this chick?

The woman nodded and smiled, looking all of them over carefully. "In the end, all of your wishes are the same. You want to avoid returning to your own world, so you wish to travel to another world." She looked at Fai.

He smiled and nodded his head. "Yep."

"You want to leave this world and return to the one you came from." Her eyes flickered over to Kurogane who merely nodded. She looked at Josephine. "You want to travel other worlds to find specific objects, and you," She looked to Syaoran. "also want to travel other worlds and save this girl by finding her pieces of memory." Syaoran nodded, that same grim determination from moments ago."Even though your goals are different, the method is the same. You want to leave this world and travel to different ones. However, if you wish to travel to a different world, each of you must pay a fee."

Josephine froze, becoming stiff as a board. A fee?! Damn those Shinigami bastards for not telling her that before! Her eyes flickered up and she glared with hate, hoping that they were watching her or something.

"A fee?!" Kurogane sounded just as surprised as Josephine.

"In order to grant our wishes, you want us to give up something that is equal to our desire for the wishes. Is that correct?" Fai looked at the woman with a slight tilt of his head.

"Yes, exactly. In order to travel to another world, you must pay a fee. Therefore, I am unable to grant your wishes separately. However, if the four of you ask for the same wish, I can combine the four separate payments and grant one wish."

"All four of us?" Kurogane repeated, frown deepening, if possible. He certainly did not want to travel with a bunch of strangers back to his world. No thanks.

She ignored him, but still addressed him when she opened her eyes to look at him. "For example, in your case…perhaps your sword?"

"What?!" Kurogane jumped back a bit in shock, but it was more of a defensive move. He pulled his sword in closer to his body as if that would protect it or shield it away from her gaze. "Ginryu is my life! I will NEVER hand it over to you!"

The Dimensional Witch smiled, expecting such an answer. "That's fine, too. But then you'll NEVER be able to return to your world." Kurogane let out a growl, but did not say anything. This amused the Witch was she leaned forward and started to poke him in his chest with each word. "Sooo…what's it gonna be?"

When she pulled away, Kurgoane let out another growl, almost sounding animalistic. With an angry huff, he sheathed what little bit of the sword was showing with a firm _'click!'_ and held it out to her. "I'll come back for it someday! Until then, I leave it in your care." He let go of it when it started to glow and it drifted over to the two girls, who came back Death Gods know when. The girl with the blue hair gently grabbed it and held it in her small hands.

The Dimensional Witch looked over to Fai. "For your payment, I will take the symbol on your back."

Fai's gaze faltered slightly for a good three seconds before it made its way back to his face. He gestured the staff he was holding towards her, letting out a barely audible chuckle. Josephine wondered what was so special about a tattoo that he would be hesitant to give it up. "I don't suppose you'd settle for this staff, would you?"

"No, I won't. The payment has to be the most valuable thing to that person." Oh dear…what was the most valuable thing to Josephine? Something told her it wouldn't be good…

"It appears I have no choice…" Fai said at a length, tilting his head with a small smile. His back started to glow and an intricate design seeped through his heavy coat and floated towards the two girls, just hanging mid-air.

"Syaoran." The boy looked up when he name was being called. He had barely taken his eyes off Sakura since she last addressed him. Poor boy…Josephine wondered who this girl was to him. A best friend? A girlfriend? Or perhaps…both. "Your payment is…your relationship."

"Relationship?" He parroted, blinking a massive amount of times in confusion.

"The thing you consider most valuable is your relationship with that girl. So, I will take that."

"What do you mean?" He ignored the rain that started to pour down on all of them, and rather heavily at that.

"Even if you succeed in returning all of her memories, none of her memories involving you will ever return."

Josephine looked at Syaoran with a thoughtful frown. The boy wasn't taking this as hard as she was expecting him to. If she were in his position, she'd be completely devastated. But still, he was saddened by such news as his eyes shined in a dim, sad light.

"This means your relationship with her will never be the same again. That, Syaoran, is your payment. What is she to you?"

Syaoran looked down at the unconscious girl, eyes growing ten times more determined than they had been before. "Sakura…To me, she is…my best friend from childhood…and the Princess of my kingdom; however…she's…the most important person in my life!" He pulled her closer to him, clenching his eyes shut. Poor boy… "But…I will still go." He raised his head and looked at the Dimensional Witch. "I will never let Sakura die!"

The Dimensional Witch smiled. "Traveling to other worlds will be very difficult. There are many different worlds. For example, the worlds from which these three came from." She gestured to the rest of the group, making them blink in a bit of confusion. "You can tell just from the way they're dressed that their worlds are completely different from yours. There may be instances where people you knew in your world will be living completely different lives in other worlds. You might even meet people who look exactly the same, time after time, on different worlds."

"And what about the deceased…?" Everyone looked over at Josephine, who's expression had faded into a stony, expressionless one. "Do the deceased of one world still continue their life on another? Will they still exist on other worlds?"

"They will. They aren't the same person; they just look alike and even act alike. They are connected in no way, so if one passes on, the others won't be affected." She returned her gaze to Syaoran. "There are worlds of criminals, worlds of lies, and worlds in the middle of wars." Josephine kind of tensed at that last part. "You will have to live through that all the while searching for pieces of her memories, without any idea where they are. To go on a long, long journey, in which you will know no end. But your mind is made up already, isn't it?"

"Yes!"

"Determination and sincerity. You seem to have what it takes to get things done." Her eyes traveled over to Josephine, making the woman tense. "I see you've already been given something extraordinary, something most humans don't even encounter. But you've also been severely priced with responsibility that is beyond what any human should take on. However, the price is still the same; the thing most important to you. I shall take your world's recent defense systems."

With eyes as wide as a full moon, Josephine stomped her foot forward, moving just a step. "N-No! You can't take that! Do you realize how many people will—" She paused when she thought over what the Shinigamis had said and sighed quietly. She had to do this either way, so… "Fine…take it…." A small glowing orb flew from Josephine's head and over to the girl; in it was a picture of her world from outer space. Right then, the boy in the school uniform ran up next to the Dimensional Witch, holding two creatures that looked somewhat like round bunnies. "So you've returned."

"Yes." The boy nodded.

One of the bunnies jumped from his grasp, landing on top of the Witch's hand. It was white with a red, circular gem on its forehead. "This little one is Mokona Modoki. Mokona will lead you through the other worlds."

"Hey," Kurogane gestured toward the one in the boy's arms. It looked just like Mokona but black and had a blue gem instead of a red one. "you have two, so give us the other also."

"That one is specifically for communication only. Mokona will take you to the other worlds, but cannot control where you go. So the way your wishes will be granted shall be determined by your luck. However, there is no such thing as coincidence, only necessity. It was inevitable that the four of you met here." The Witch extended her arm out, holding Mokona toward them. "Now, go."

Everyone's eyes widened a little in interest as Mokona started to glow brightly. Swirls of magic started to dance around the creature and when it jumped back, long white wings extended from its back. "Mokona Modoki is really excited!" A large circular ring appeared on the ground, shooting up magic from it. Mokona opened its mouth wide and started to suck in. Bands of colorful magic wrapped around the four wish makers, and soon to be partners, making them all gasp in surprise.

Then things went black...

* * *

Josephine had no idea what happened next; one minute she was standing in front of that magical creature, and the next she was falling through some sort of…vortex thing? She didn't know what to call it. When she looked around, she saw no one at all, which confused her a bit. Her thoughts trailed to what had just happened moments ago. _'The defense systems…I hope I made the right choice.'_ The hand that was not holding onto her Death Scythe clenched into a fist, making the leather of her glove crinkle quietly. _'No! I did! I know I did! No matter if I made a heavy decision that will surely affect my people, I shall not fail. I will protect my people with everything I can possibly give! Even if it means collecting souls from the dead, then so be it! Nothing will stand in my way! Nothing and no one! Not even these strangers! I will not fail!'_

A dim light caught her attention, making her look away from the scythe in her hand, her grip automatically tightening around it when she saw a black and purple ball of light coming her way. Its round form was black with purple flames covering its form. She wouldn't have been too concerned, had she not seen the eyes that it had; steely and cold yet kind and gentle. It was an odd mixture, but one she kind of took comfort in. She did not fear this thing that came toward her, but she was suspicious.

"Young lady," It spoke to her. Its...or _his_ voice was firm and powerful, but considerate and protective. The conflicting tones and emotions were odd, but she felt drawn to this little ball of colorful fire. The color sort of reminded her of that Shinigami she encountered. What was his name? Oh yeah, Vidic. The voice sounded nothing like that Death God, though."I have made the decision to accept your determination and strength to protect the people of your world."

"W-What?" Josephine managed, blinking her eyes. "What do you mean? Who are you?"

The ball of light burst into the air and then slammed down only to morph into the figure of a dark panther with long, feathery wings and purple flames still rolling off of it. "I am the one…who controls the darkness."

* * *

**Yay. Second chapter is done! **

**So, I am following the Japanese version of the show, so if you were confused as to why the dialogue was different…that's why.**

**Onward to the Hanshin Republic!**

**Review?**

**I'd appreciate it!**

**:O**

**~V**


	3. The Hanshin Republic

"Wakey-wakey!" A little voice reached Josephine's ears, making her stir in her sleep. She was so exhausted; she didn't want to get up. She hadn't had proper sleep in over four days, so you can imagine her anger and disappointment when she felt something furry poking her cheek. Her eyes fluttered open and they widened a little in surprise as she saw Mokona sitting on top of her chest, smiling at her. However, he…or she…or whatever it was, jumped off of her and headed over to Syaoran, giving her room to sit up. Weird…she could've sworn she was alone when she was falling through the vortex. Or maybe…that was a dream?

Josephine pushed herself up into a sitting position, grabbing the Death Scythe that was next to her and looked at her surroundings. They were on some manner of bridge in a city, from what she could tell. In the distance she could see a radio tower of some kind with the word _'Hanshin'_ on the side of it. Hanshin? Was that where they were?

"Puu! Or something like that?" Mokona jumped off of Syaoran when his eyes snapped open. He laid there, Sakura still in his arms, and blinked several times up at the sky, clearly confused about something. "What was that…?"

Mokona turned away, grabbing its face with its stubby hands and started to fake sob. "You didn't follow through with my joke!"

Fai grabbed the bunny-like creature and held it close to him, smiling over at Syaoran and Josephine. "Looks like you two are finally awake." He had discarded the large coat, and was now wearing an outfit of blue and white, completely indescribable to Josephine. Where the coat went…she did not have any idea.

Syaoran blinked before snapping up, looking at the girl in his arms. "Sakura!" He relaxed just the slightest when he noticed there was no difference in her unconscious condition since being at the Dimensional Witch.

The others looked in the direction that Josephine was looking in, at the tower, and blinked. "Where are we?" Syaoran asked quietly, sitting up and being careful to shift Sakura in his grip.

Fai shrugged his shoulders. "Who knows? We just woke up a little while ago ourselves. But one thing is for certain: this is indeed a world we know nothing about." He looked at Syaoran. "Did you know that you did not let go of her at all?"

Mokona hopped up and down in Fai's arms. "Mokona wants to be held too!"

"Let's see, you were…Syaoran. My names a little long, so you can just call me Fai." He looked behind him at Kurogane. "Let's see, what should we call Blackie over there?"

Kurogane's eyebrow twitched the slightest. He looked over at Fai, giving him a rather bland look. "I'm not 'Blackie'. I'm Kurogane."

"How about I call you Kuro-chan or Kuro-rin?"

Mokona jumped from Fai's arms and landed in the lap of Kurogane, hopping up and down. "Mokona wants to be held! Hold me! Hold me! Hold me!"

"What the hell? Get off of me!"

Josephine ignored all of them and rose to her feet, dusting off the leather outfit she wore. Regardless of its stylish appearance, she only wore it because it served the best of protection against things like rain or snow.

"And your name is…Josephine, right?" Fai asked from behind, taking a moment to inspect not only her, but her Death Scythe as well. Its design was a little…interesting, and he wondered if it was actually made from the bones of a real human. Actually, he didn't want to think about that…

Josephine turned around fully, so that she could look him in the face when talking. She found that was always the polite thing to do… "Yes. But since we will no doubt be traveling together for a long time, you may call me Josie. I prefer it over Josephine any day." She shrugged her shoulders, face becoming hard to read.

Kurogane shoved the bunny-like creature away from him, ignoring its cries of disappointment, and looked up at the woman as well. "That's uhh…quite the interesting weapon you have there." He also wondered if that thing was made from real bones, and he suppressed a shudder. He was a warrior, and used to blood and the likes, but the idea of some sicko making weapons out of the victims of death, well, that was just disgusting and disrespectful…

"Yes. That it is. I am still getting used to it." Josephine looked at the large scythe thoughtfully. How was she supposed to carry this thing around when it was clearly larger than she was? _'I wonder…'_ She flicked her wrist, the one that was holding the scythe, and gasped a little in surprise when the thing just vanished without a trace. The others were a little stunned too. How the hell did she do that? "Oh. It worked…" Well that certainly makes things easier.

"Are you saying you didn't know you could do that?" Kurogane asked, eyes narrowing just the slightest. He couldn't tell if this was some act or if she really didn't understand what was going on. Her face was so damn hard to read…

Josie looked his way and shook her head. "I did not. I just recently acquired this thing…"

Before anyone in the group had the chance to change the subject or add on to it, a small, timid voice stopped them. "What are you doing there?" The group looked over to see a young boy. He looked like the boy from The Dimensional Witch's shop as he was wearing a school uniform and had dark hair, but he was a lot younger and shorter, and had dark beady eyes like a bird instead of sky blue ones. "Hurry up and run!"

The group blinked. Why on earth would they need to run? There certainly was nothing around that posed as a threat. Well… that's how it looked anyway. "Who are you?"

"My name is Saito Masayoshi." He blinked and examined them all, up and down. "All of you seem to be dressed in rather strange clothing…Are you from another country?"

"Foreigners, huh?" Fai tilted his head slightly, letting Mokona crawl into his arms. "Well, something like that."

"Anyways, this area is really dangerous, so please hurry and run!"

This world looked a lot like Josie's. That was something she noticed with a few glances around. How could this place be so dangerous? It was quiet and there was no one in the area, save the group and Masayoshi. It wasn't filled with monsters or criminals, so what was there to fear?

Apparently Kurogane was having the same thoughts because he snapped at the boy. "What the hell is going on?"

"If you don't hurry up, it's going to start!"

Josie tilted her head to the side slightly, confused. This kid wasn't exactly helping with his rushed and vague answers. "What are you talking about, Mr. Saito? What is about to start?" That's when she felt it; the strong auras surrounding them on two sides. She looked up and frowned a little bit.

There was a group on one of the rooftops. All of them were wearing goggles over their eyes and had, in Josie's opinion, shit eating grins. The man in front of the group had light brown hair and a white scarf thrown around his neck. His aura told her that he was indeed the leader as he had that leader like aura. On top of that, he was arrogant, selfish, rude, but had his own unique sense of kindness. She turned around to look in the direction that the group was facing, only to find another one on the rooftop across from them. Instead of all goggles, this group appeared to have all mohawks. Based on the aura, the guy at the front of the group, who was a large, husky man with a pink mohawk, was the leader of this particular one. His aura was one of arrogance, selfishness, yet there was a mixture of kindness in there. He and the leader of the group with the goggles were almost alike in personality.

"Oh no, it's started!"

Kurogane looked between the groups, raising an eyebrow. "Who the hell are they?"

"Wh-What are we going to do?" Masayoshi whimpered, body shaking a bit with fear. "Over there!" He pointed toward a set of mashed up and practically destroyed cars. He grabbed Josie's hand, her being the closest to him, and dragged her toward the cars.

"A-Ah! Slow down!" Josie yelped as she tried to keep up with the boy. The others followed quickly, sensing that being in the middle of what was to happen would indeed be bad. Behind the cars, the group poked their heads around them and watched the two groups that exchanged words.

"I take it they are some form of gangs?" Josie said, shifting her weight in her crouched position. Masayoshi had let go of her hand by now.

He nodded his head, eyes flickering back and forth between the two gangs. "Yes, they are. They've been fighting over the territory in this area. Every day, for the last couple of days, they've been fighting over that bridge."

Kurogane smirked. "That sounds interesting." His smirk faltered just the slightest when he noticed that the groups had no weapons. How would one fight without a weapon? Was this going to be a brawl of pure strength? "But none of them have any weapons, so how are they supposed to fight?"

Josie hummed thoughtfully, pursing her lips. "Well, they might have guns on them." She blinked when everyone looked at her with curious glances, save Masayoshi. "You guys don't know what guns are?" Their blank stares told her that the answer was a big _NO_. She sighed and grabbed the pistol from the holster on her hip and held it up for all of them to see. The pistol's silver surface gleamed dangerously in the sunlight, making them all stare wide-eyed at it with fascination and Masayoshi paled at the sight of it. "This is a pistol, a specific type of gun. I'd explain it to you, and maybe I'll even show it to you sometime, but now certainly is not the time." She slipped it away and focused her attention back on the group. "So, is that what they use…or do they just brawl?"

Masayoshi smiled at her. "They fight with kudan, of course!"

"Kudan?" Kurogane parroted, looking over at the boy. "What the hell is that?"

Right then the groups started to cheer at the order from their leaders to get the other group. They extended one of their arms out and orbs of energy formed above them; the goggle gang had blue ones, while the mohawk gang had red ones. Then they just started shooting back and forth each other, all of them miserably failing to hit anyone, might I add.

"Oh. So that's kudan." Kurogane watched in interest as the gangs fought.

"I guess you really don't know what they are."

Both Syaoran and Josie's eyes widened a considerable size when two of the beams of energy collided with each other making a big explosion of energy in the middle of the sky. Josie thought about what she had seen in her dream, as she decided that it was one, and about that panther like creature that was in it. Though why Syaoran was stunned, she didn't know. Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard Syaoran let out a surprised yelp. When she looked back, Fai had his hand under Syaoran's cloak, reaching behind him. She blinked her eyes slowly. Geesh, was this guy a child molester? Poor boy…

"What the hell are you doing?" Kurogane asked, staring at the blond like he was insane.

"This." He pulled his arm back and in between his fingers was a feather. The feather was beautiful and unique in its appearance as it was pure white with a pink design of a heart with wings on it. The magical aura it gave off was incredible…

"That's…"

"I knew it." Fai said with a smile as he twirled it around in his fingers carefully. "I thought I saw it a second ago. This is a fragment of her memories, right?"

"I guess it got stuck to my clothes by coincidence." Syaoran blinked as he stared at the feather adamantly.

"Well, coincidence, no." Josie said as she gently fingered the feather with a thoughtful look on her face. She could feel the magic just rolling off of this thing and it felt quite strange to touch it as it sent a small shock through her system. It was like when she received the powers of a Shinigami, but wasn't painful. "_'There is no such thing as coincidence.'_ That's what the witch said, if memory serves me right."

Fai nodded his head in agreement. "So you probably grabbed it unconsciously in order to save the girl." A low chuckle erupted from the base of Fai's throat as he shrugged his shoulders. "Or something like that. To tell you the truth, I don't really know. Anyway," He held out the feather to Syaoran. "hurry up and give it to her."

When Syaoran reached up to grab it, one of the gangs shots must've gone haywire, because it was heading right for them. "Look out!" Masayoshi called, covering his head with his hands. The mini explosion knocked the feather out of Fai's hand, and it flew high into the sky over the bridge. When the smoke cleared, Syaoran looked at Fai's hand; his eyes widened when he saw it wasn't there. He gently set Sakura against one of the cars and sprung up to his feet, chasing after it into the middle of the gang's fight.

"Hey!" Kurogane called out when he noticed what Syaoran was doing.

"It's dangerous!" Masayoshi called after him. "Please come back!"

Josie watched him with a small smile on her face, wiping any loose dirt that sprung up from the explosion out of her hair. "Dedicated kid."

Masayoshi blinked, a frown marring his face. "Why would he do something so dangerous?"

"In order to save someone very important to him, he needs that feather."

"In order to save someone very important to him?" Masayoshi parroted Fai, blinking slowly about two times. Of course he didn't understand why he needed that feather to save Sakura. It wasn't exactly something you hear normally: one saving someone important to them with a feather.

"Boss!" A lanky man with a green mohawk pointed down at Syaoran. "There's a civilian-type person down there!"

The husky man with the pink mohawk placed his foot on the railing of the rooftop, shrugging his shoulders. "Who cares! Just keep shooting, shooting and shooting like there's no tomorrow!"

Uhm, rude much?

Syaoran dodged any oncoming shots, reaching a hand out to catch the feather. He was so close until he slipped on a rock, stumbling down to the ground. Fortunately luck was on his side as he managed to catch it when falling. While marveling in his victory, he failed to notice that a beam of energy was coming his way, and when he finally did, he turned his back to it, clenching his eyes shut and waited for it to make contact with him. It never did. Instead, a massive amount of flames surrounded his body, merely absorbing the shot. Everyone was particularly stunned when this happened. The fire suddenly formed into a large wolf type creature with a horn on it; it was made out of the flames. It stepped in front of Syaoran, looking down at him.

"Damn…" Kurogane complimented, or at least it seemed like a compliment with the way he was smiling at the sight.

"Wow, he already has a kudan. Not to mention, it's a special level one too!"

The three looked at Masayoshi curiously. "Special level? What's that?"

"Kudan have rank. The highest ranking ones are referred to as "special levels.""

Mokona hopped up and down in Fai's arms, smiling. "Mokona is satisfied with that answer."

Syaoran looked at his kudan, eyes glistening over with utter determination. "I want strength to protect Sakura. Will you fight with me?" It nodded at him in response.

"Now I get it!" The leader of the mohawk gang cried, pointing a finger at Syaoran. "He was hired by the other gang to help them out! All of you, take care of that little brat first!" His whole gang nodded and each shot a beam of energy toward Syaoran, making them all combine to form one large one. Syaoran's kudan jumped into the air, moving head-first into the beam and just absorbed it completely, making the mohawk gang pale in their faces."Run away!" The boss ordered and darted out of sight, his gang following.

Tch, cowards…

"Are special level kudans all in the form of some creature?" Josie asked, genuinely curious. She wondered if the creature she saw in her dream was a kudan. Or maybe she just had a weird dream…Who knows?

Masayoshi nodded. "Usually, but they can take shapes of other things, or grant people things to help them fight."

The sound of metal being forced down caused everyone to look up and Syaoran to turn around. The leader of the goggle gang had jumped down onto a bus nearby and smirked down at Syaoran rather arrogantly. "It appears that your kudan is also a special level one. The name's Asagi Shogo. And you are?" For an arrogant looking bastard, he sure had some manners. Syaoran merely responded with his name, nothing more. "I see your kudan controls fire. But my kudan…" Shogo held out his arm, water circling around it and his body before it formed into the shape of a stingray. The water became a solid form, taking the appearance of a real creature. "You have fire, and I have water." He let out an arrogant scoff. "This is gonna be an interesting match."

Shogo's kudan spit out a large blast of water from its mouth and in a flash, Syaoran's kudan jumped to meet it head on. The force of the collision sent a wave of energy out, nearly knocking everyone over, but actually knocked Mokona from Fai's arms.

When it all cleared, Shogo placed a hand on his hip, smirking. "You said your name is Syaoran, right? Heh, I like your style."

"Shogo! It's the cops!" Indeed, there were loud sirens blaring, signaling the approach of the law enforcers. Shogo sighed in annoyance, his kudan disappearing. "Damn! Right when it started to get good, too." He turned his back towards Syaoran and hopped off the bus, running away with his gang. "I'm looking forward to the next time we meet, kid!"

Syaoran gasped quietly when his own kudan formed into a small ball and floated up in front of him. He stared at it and it did nothing for a while until it moved towards Syaoran, sinking into his chest. When the sensation of the kudan sinking in left him, his eyes widened when he noticed he still had the feather. "Sakura!" He ran over to the group.

Josie removed her arms from around the unconscious girl. The force of the two kudans was very powerful and Josie had taken it upon herself to protect Sakura from being knocked over or hit with anything. "She's fine." Josie reassured him and stepped back from her to give Syaoran some room. He stared at the feather for a long time trying to figure out just what he should do. Seeing how confused he was, Josie grabbed his hand with her own and guided it toward the princess's chest. Right as the feather made contact with her chest, it sunk in. She let go of his hand, smiling when Sakura let out a quiet gasp in her sleep. That was surely a good sign.

"Thank goodness. Her body is warming up." Syaoran smiled in relief, shoulders slumping slightly. Josie patted him on the back. He certainly needed a little break after all the worry and stress he had been putting himself through, fighting for this girl's life. But something told Josie that he wouldn't stop until every one of her feathers were collected.

Honestly, Josie had no idea why she knew to do that. It was probably just a spur of the moment kind of thing, but she guessed it didn't matter now; Sakura was getting better.

"Now we can all relax a little." Fai said, shifting Mokona in his arms slightly. The creature had been knocked unconscious when it was thrown from his arms in the first place, but everyone had a feeling it would not be long at all before it woke back up.

Kurogane looked at the bunny creature, raising an eyebrow. "What about that thing?"

"Mokona was hit by the blast a little while ago. But don't worry, it just passed out."

"Like I'd worry about that thing!"

"But you know," Fai turned his head to look at Masayoshi. Standing next to the boy was one who looked similar to him but was wearing Japanese styled robes instead of a school uniform. "I'd really like to know what's going on over there."

The others looked his way, and the boy with the Japanese styled robes bowed its head before turning into a ball of blue energy, sinking into Masayoshi's chest. He smiled sheepishly. "Sorry to startle you. That was…"

"Your kudan?"

He nodded and Kurogane shrugged his shoulders, red eyes veiled behind his eyelids for a short time as he blinked three times, obviously finding the kudan a bit strange. "Anything goes, I guess."

Josie blinked, feeling the presence of two people approach them. She had barely started to turn around when one of them called out to the group, "I finally found you guys!" Standing behind them was a man and a woman. The man was a tall guy with gray eyes and short brown hair. The woman was just a foot shorter than him and had long, straight black hair with light blue eyes.

"Who the hell are you?" Kurogane looked at them, face becoming void of emotion. Obviously he didn't care at all.

The man smiled and waved at them, then gestured toward himself. "I'm Arisugawa Sorata. And this is my wife…" He gestured to her

"Arashi." She finished for him, smiling softly at the group.

* * *

Arashi and Sorata had been kind enough to invite the group back to the boarding house they ran, so they had somewhere to sleep. Everyone was in one of the rooms, sitting on the floor. The only one who wasn't was Josie. She was distracted by something and kept looking out the window, though no one seemed to notice; that was a good thing. Or if they did, they certainly didn't say anything. She really didn't feel like explaining why she felt so nervous.

So why was she feeling nervous? Well, to be blunt…Vidic. She'd have to look into those expressionless eyes as he handed over a list of souls she had to collect. She had no idea when he was supposed to come appear to her. _'I hope we'll do this in private. I don't want the others seeing these lists…'_ That would be a terribly awkward conversation…

"My wife was a priestess before we got married. My honey was _absolutely_ divine as a priestess. She retired after we got married, but her powers are still intact. So that's how we knew you guys would show up. We run this boarding house. There are plenty of open rooms, so feel free to use whichever ones you'd like."

Josie finally pulled her gaze away, smiling in the direction of the couple. "Thank you kindly, Arashi, Sorata. That will certainly be helpful…" With a slight tilt of her head, she blinked. "But why, may I ask, are you helping us?"

"Well, we owe a lot to Yuuko-san…no, the Dimension Witch." Well at least the group had a name to call her instead of '_witch_'. "I'll look after you guys while you're here. However," Sorata pointed toward Kurogane, making him blink in confusion. "If you try to even lay a _finger_ on my lovely honey, I'll kill ya."

Kurogane's eyes narrowed in annoyance. "And why are you only telling _me_ this?"

Sorata laughed, waving him off with a small wave of his hand. "I'm just kidding." Then there was this long stretch of silence before he added, "But, I'm serious."

"And I'm saying you have nothing to worry about!"

Arashi chuckled at them and rose to her feet, Sorata following her action when he felt her nudge him. The two headed out the door, "I will go get some tea." Arashi said before she closed the door behind her quietly, leaving the group in complete silence.

After several minutes, Fai decided to break the awkward silence by looking at Sakura. "Her color seems to be improving." Indeed it was. Instead of completely pale like they had been when they first met, Sakura's cheeks had a rosy tint to them.

Syaoran smile and brushed a bit of hair out of her face. "It's all because of that feather."

Josie moved away from the window, the thought of soul collecting and Vidic temporarily gone. She knelt down next to Fai and smiled at Syaoran. "How do you plan to find the other feathers? I'm sure they won't be as easy to find like the one today."

Syaoran let out a quiet sigh, shaking his head. Josie was right; finding the feathers would most likely not be as easy as it was today. He had no way of knowing where to look or how to ask around. It would just be odd, going up to someone one and asking if they have seen a feather. He'd look like a complete idiot! But, he'd do it for Sakura if it meant saving her life. "I have no idea."

Mokona jumped from Fai's arms, landing in front of the young boy. "Mokona knows!" It stuck its stubby arms up in the arm with a smile. "Mokona has memorized the feather's wavelength. So when a feather is nearby," Its eyes got large and wide, making everyone blink and make weird faces. "my eyes do this!" Mokona's eyes went back to being normal. "I did that earlier too!"

"It was probably the feather that was on Syaoran's cape." Fai reasoned.

"Nope, a different one! While Syaoran was fighting, there was a different one nearby!"

"What?" Syaoran asked, becoming stunned. There was another feather nearby and he didn't know it? His thoughts trailed to the fight earlier, to the man he fought. "Shogo…"

Fai picked Mokona up with both hands and smiled at it. "Well this certainly makes things easier."

"If you sense a feather nearby, will you let me know?"

"Leave it to me!"

Well this was good. Josie probably could help with finding the feathers, given the fact that she could sense auras and the likes. But she, unlike Mokona, was sure she couldn't remember the feather's wavelengths. And if she could…well then that'd make things easier. Who knows? Maybe she could…

"This has nothing to do with me." Everyone looked at Kurogane, who sat in the corner of the room near one of the windows. His gaze was solely fixed on Syaoran's, expression completely uncaring and lacking any nice or kind emotion. "I'm going back to my own world." He placed his hands on his knees, adjusting the way he sat so he could sit more comfortably with his back pressed to the wall. "That's my only motive. I have no desire to stick my neck out for you, or help you guys out…at all."

Josie's eyes narrowed slightly. Even if she had her own tasks to take on, she'd give any help that she could possibly offer to them if she was not occupied at the time; that's just how she was. And she was completely swamped with responsibility! But for a guy whose world probably wasn't even close, it was a little jerk-offish that he refused to help.

Syaoran nodded, a small smile touching his lips. "Right. This is _my_ problem. I will do my best not to cause you any trouble."

"Syaoran is so serious~" Fai sang, chuckling to himself.

"Well, what about you two?" Kurogane looked to Josie and Fai, raising an eyebrow. "Are you going to help that brat out?"

"Well, let's see…I just want to make sure that I never go back to my world, so I wouldn't mind helping out a little, as long as I don't get killed. It's not like I have anything better to do, anyway." Fai shrugged his shoulders, then looked to Josie. "What about you?"

The woman glanced back at Kurogane, a teasing smirk on her face. "Well the only '_brat_' I see is you." Kurogane growled at her in response. If only he had his sword… "But to answer your question, yes, I will be helping out Syaoran." She smiled at the boy, kindly. "I have my own things to accomplish but I will help as often as I can with everything I can possibly offer."

"Thank you, both of you." Syaoran bowed his head in thanks to the two. Honestly, he'd need all the help he could get, probably. But even if they weren't willing to help, he'd do whatever he could to save Sakura; anything and everything.

"Mokona won't go to the next world until we find the next feather!"

"Thanks, Mokona."

* * *

After chatting with Arashi and Sorata a little bit over tea, the gang started to head off to bed. Josie decided it was best to start the search for the feather in the morning, so the gang took her advice and went to bed at an early hour.

As soon as Josie laid down, she was out like a light. Fai chuckled when he noticed her even breathing, signaling that she was indeed asleep. "It didn't take her long to fall asleep." He mused.

Syaoran smiled and rested his hand on his knee, looking up. "She did look kind of tired throughout today."

"Hmm. Yes, she did." Fai hummed as he rose to his feet, careful not to wake a sleeping Mokona that was still in his arms. "I wonder why that was." He shrugged it off and reached above him, grabbing the switch to the light and pulled it down, shutting them off. "Anyways, we should take her advice and get to bed early. We've got a big day ahead of us tomorrow." He took a spot in a corner of the room and shut his eyes instantly.

Syaoran nodded and closed his eyes, falling asleep from where he sat not long after Fai. Kurogane, however, didn't get to sleep so easily like the rest of them. His head buzzed with all kinds of thoughts.

'_I'll find her…and I will make her break this seal.'_ And that was the last thought he had before he finally fell asleep.

* * *

**OMG, guys. I feel this chapter sucked.**

**I've been so distracted.**

**Why do I do this? I get distracted and decide to keep writing. That's such a bad idea.**

**Anyhowwww, more action will be in the chapter, I promise. ;p**

**But for now I need to get back to my One Piece story. :O**

**Leave a note?**

**~V**


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